Republican governors lead attack on Biden vaccine mandate

Republican governors began filing lawsuits on Friday to stop the Biden administration’s requirement that nearly 2 million U.S. employers get workers tested or vaccinated for COVID-19, saying it trampled civil liberties.

After President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said on Thursday he will enforce the mandate starting Jan. 4, the states of Florida, Georgia and Alabama jointly sued in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

“The federal government can’t just unilaterally impose medical policy under the guise of workplace regulation,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday.

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U.S. charges 2 men for plotting to blow up Democratic headquarters in California

Two California men have been indicted on charges they conspired to attack the Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, the state’s capital city, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

According to the unsealed indictment, Ian Benjamin Rogers, 45, of Napa and Jarrod Copeland, 37, of Vallejo started plotting to attack Democratic targets after the 2020 presidential election. They also tried to get support from an anti-government group to further the cause.

The indictment does not name the militia group they contacted, but prosecutors in a different court filing said Copeland emailed the far-right group Proud Boys, trying to “recruit others to join the plot,” and also was a member of a militia group affiliated with the Three Percenters.

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White House does not rule out Haiti request for U.S. troops

 The United States is still reviewing a request for troops made by Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph to help secure key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday.

Psaki said Haiti’s political leadership remains unclear and that it was vital for the country’s leaders to come together to chart a united path forward.

Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins formed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Haitian police said on Sunday they had arrested another key suspect.

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U.S. asks court to dismiss government appeal of TikTok ruling

The Biden administration on Monday asked a federal appeals court to dismiss the Justice Department’s legal challenge to court rulings that barred a Trump-era effort to ban new downloads of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok.

Last month, President Joe Biden withdrew a series of executive orders issued by former President Donald Trump in August that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok and ordered a new review. The Commerce Department formally withdrew the orders that sought to bar the apps last month. The Justice Department said Monday that the government’s legal challenge was now moot.

Chevron hit with $85 mln lawsuit over gas deliveries during Texas freeze

A Texas natural gas marketer has sued a unit of Chevron USA Inc in Houston federal court, asking for nearly $85 million from the oil giant for failing to make natural gas deliveries during a deep freeze across the state in February.

In a complaint filed on Friday, Cailip Gas Marketing LLC located in Houston accuses Chevron Natural Gas of breaching a sales contract by delivering lower-than-agreed volumes of natural gas to a facility near Houston just as Winter Storm Uri knocked out power and sent natural-gas spot prices soaring.

Chevron did not immediately provide a comment. The complaint says that the San Ramon, California-based company has said force majeure excused the missed and incomplete deliveries.

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